Ministry Of Food founder Lena Sim declared bankrupt

LENA Sim, founder of food-and-beverage group Ministry of Food (MOF), has been declared bankrupt by the Singapore High Court, after a special-purpose investment vehicle called Star Sino Developments sued her to recover a loan.

Star Sino, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, had in December 2016 entered into an exchangeable for US$5 million with a company called Blue-link Properties Offshore (BPOL). The latter’s sole director and shareholder Ting Choon Meng was named in the suit as Sim’s life partner, and Sim had acted as personal guarantor for the loan.

Ting was MOF’s director between Jul 20, 2016 and Mar 26, 2018.

While Sim had made attempts to repay some of the loan, she still owes a debt plus accrued interest to the tune of US$3.8 million.

She agreed to pledge her 77.5 per cent shares in MOF to Star Sino as security for the debt, said the loan agreement.

Sim had later alleged that the value of the pledged shares exceeded the outstanding amount due to Star Sino by BPOL, according to court documents filed by Star Sino’s lawyers from Fullerton Law Chambers. The lawyers said there was no merit to this claim, as Sim had not provided the courts any valuation reports relating to the share equity in MOF.

“The pledged shares are entirely worthless as MOF had gone into liquidation on Apr 9, 2021. In fact, prior to MOF’s liquidation on Apr 9, 2021, it became apparent that the value of the pledged shares was already insufficient to satisfy the outstanding amount owed to Star Sino,” the documents said.

Sim was a restaurateur who founded MOF in 2006; she was its director from 2009 to 2019, as well as from September 2020 until the group’s liquidation in April last year. She was also its sole shareholder since December 2017.

At its peak, MOF was operating 80 restaurants in Singapore with nine brands under its name.

SEE ALSO

PR veteran Lynn Yeow declared bankrupt over debts owed by Loh cousins-linked firm

Former honestbee CEO declared bankrupt

Separately, Sim was last year sued by Chua Ngak Hwee, co-founder of medical-device company Healthstats, for failing to repay an interest-free loan of S$200,000.

According to a report in The Straits Times last year, Korean businessman Lee Je Young and three others also applied to the High Court in January 2021 to enforce an arbitration award of S$4.8 million against MOF.

In 2017, MOF was sued for an outstanding debt of S$4.8 million for its purchase of a chain of Korean restaurants. Sim had reportedly agreed to buy the chain that year for S$5.5 million, of which she had paid only S$700,000. She had planned to resell the chain to a Thai conglomerate, but the deal fell through.

Court documents show that Star Sino, incorporated in the British Virgins Islands, served a total of four statutory demands on Sim between 2017 and 2021.  It commenced a second bankruptcy application against her on Aug 20, 2021, and she was declared bankrupt on Oct 13.

Sim is also facing charges from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore for failing to furnish it with information on two companies – Korean Buffet and XIb – The Straits Times reported.